Friends

Forest Tea Party

A pocket sized woodland party that punches above its piece count.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 42690 · 2026

Pieces116

Minifigs2

Year2026

Set number42690

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The verdict

The mushroom chairs got me the second I saw them, four little toadstool seats gathered around a turntable so the cake actually spins while Aliya and Paisley serve it.

For a set this small it packs in a real sense of place, the fairy door, the frog and squirrel, the snail tucked in the grass. I would not call it a builder's set, there is no clever engineering trick waiting for you here, but it never pretends to be one. This is a quick, cheerful afternoon build that hands a kid a finished little world to play in the same day.

Best for: kids six and up who want a fast build with a finished play scene at the end, and parents topping up an Easter basket or party favor budget

The full review

What it is

I will admit small Friends sets do not usually make me sit up, but Forest Tea Party did. It is a tiny scene, just over a hundred pieces, yet it tells a complete little story the second the last brick clicks in. Aliya and Paisley get a turntable table ringed by four mushroom cap chairs, so the cake actually spins around for serving, and that one mechanical touch turns a static tea party into something a kid will keep fidgeting with long after the box is empty. Hopper the frog, Fern the squirrel, and a snail round out the guest list, and there is a fairy door tucked into the scenery that begs a kid to imagine who else might show up.

The catch

I want to be honest about what this is not. It is not a build that will occupy an evening, at 116 pieces you are done in twenty or thirty minutes, and there is no engineering surprise waiting for you partway through, the pieces are mostly familiar Friends parts in a fresh arrangement rather than new molds. If you are shopping for a builder who wants a challenge, look elsewhere in the range. This set is doing a different job, it is handing over a finished, playable little world fast, which is exactly what a lot of six to nine year olds actually want on a rainy afternoon or right after unwrapping a gift.

Who it's for

Get this one for a young Friends fan who wants instant payoff, for a party favor or Easter basket where a full size set would be overkill, or for a parent who wants a low pressure introduction to building before stepping up to something bigger. Skip it if you are buying for a kid who already loves multi hour builds or wants a mechanism heavy set, this one saves its cleverness for the play afterward, not the build itself.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one is quick and low friction, the kind of build you hand to a younger kid without hovering over their shoulder. You start with the turntable base, snap the four mushroom cap chairs around it, then layer on the teatime spread, teapot, cakes, blackberries, a little lamp, before finishing with the forest scenery and fairy door. Nothing here requires patience with repetitive studs or fiddly small assemblies, it is paced for a single relaxed sitting.

There is no headline new mold or printed rarity to chase in this set, which keeps expectations honest, most of the food and foliage pieces are recolors pulled from the existing Friends parts palette. The real value is in the two mini-dolls and the small menagerie, Hopper the frog, Fern the squirrel, and the snail, which give a set this size more characters per dollar than most budget Friends sets manage. At under ten dollars in most markets, the part count to price ratio is genuinely fair for what is essentially a playset with a bonus build.

Fun facts

01Forest Tea Party is part of LEGO's summer 2026 Friends wave, a woodland themed refresh that moved the sub-theme's small sets out of the usual cafe and shop settings and into the forest.
02The set's rotating turntable is its one real mechanical feature, letting the centerpiece cake spin for serving, a small but memorable touch for a set under 120 pieces.
03Early Brickset community comments singled out the mushroom seating specifically, with builders calling it one of the more charming small builds in the wave.
04At 116 pieces and priced around 9.99 in euros (roughly 8.99 pounds in the UK), it sits at the entry level end of the Friends lineup, positioned as an accessible add-on rather than a headline set.